Only those e-rickshaws which are complying with the Transport Department’s guidelines are being registered, while those not licensed are being impounded and their owners prosecuted, the Delhi government said here on Monday.
About 1,100 battery-operated rickshaws have been given licence to ply on the city roads.
Making this submission before the Delhi High Court, the government counsel said the Transport Department had impounded more than 15,000 e-rickshaws since January.
The Bench of Justice Manmohan was hearing a contempt petition alleging that most of the e-rickshaws were operating in violation of law and rules, and the authorities were not taking any action against those.
After petitioner Shahnawaz Khan’s counsel claimed that only 31 licences had been issued and a large number of battery-operated rickshaws were plying, especially in trans-Yamuna areas, the court asked both the parties to file their affidavits and posted the case for hearing on February 15.
A Division Bench of the High Court had held on September 9 last year that the operations of e-rickshaws in Delhi were illegal as per the existing law and imposed a ban on those till the Union government framed rules for their regulation.
